


Maple Trees and Libraries

by stardustandswimmingpools



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, Libraries, Meet-Cute, Prompt Fic, Tumblr Prompt, but just you wait, i chose the title because it rhymes and i suck at titles, i will bring it to life trust me, please do not judge the author, uhh creepy ex-boyfriends, well basically yeah, zoe/evan is still not a tag
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 18:23:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10418343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustandswimmingpools/pseuds/stardustandswimmingpools
Summary: "Hold my hand so he gets jealous." Evan's just trying to read his book until Zoe approaches him and asks him to help her avoid her asshole ex-boyfriend. So what if he's six feet tall and terrifying as all hell? How can Evan say no?





	

**Author's Note:**

> idk if yall remember but awhile back my friend jeannie and I did a prompt exchange where we would each give each other a prompt and a pairing and then we'd write the fic. well anyhow i'm doing another one with my tumblr amigo @lost-in-the-in-between who's super cool and is the reason this fic has come to exist! cheers to you Ash.  
> anyhow i dont know how college works so please forgive me, and also this is mediocre at best but WHATEVER leave me alone just read it

 

“Hi, Evan, right?”

Evan jerks his head up from his book about various different tree species, and swirly shapes bloom in front of his eyes, which he blinks away. “Um — yes? Evan. I mean yes, that’s me.”

_ And you’re Zoe Murphy, only the girl I’ve been in love with since we both started here two years ago. _

Zoe smiles at him, but it’s oddly strained. “Look, I know we’ve literally never talked, but you’re the only person in the library right now and I need a weird favor.”

Actually, they have talked. Twice. One: when Zoe asked what she missed after she missed an econ lesson. Evan gave her his notes with a few incoherent jumbled phrases mixed in and then avoided her eyes. He didn’t get any notes for that class.  Two: when Zoe spotted Evan lingering — or maybe loitering — outside the band room during practice and asked him what he was doing there, and didn’t he have class? And Evan said yes he had class but the thing was was that his class was really boring and anyway he knew enough about environmental science to miss one class and also he totally didn’t realize she was in band, how cool! Even though that was a total lie and Evan knew Zoe was majoring in music theory because he came by the band room all the time to watch them practice just so he could see Zoe do that half-smile. And Zoe said  _ okay  _ and did the half-smile at  _ him _ and went back into the band room. 

But obviously Zoe doesn’t remember either of those, which makes sense because that was all last year and Zoe is different this year, so why should she remember a guy like Evan. Except now she’s asking him a favor and oops, he’s taken too long to respond, again.

Evan blinks. “O-okay?”

"Great. Listen, see that guy?" Zoe's eyes flit to, yes, the  _ only other person _ in the library. Evan doesn't know him. Evan doesn't know most people, though, so no surprise. "That's my ex." _ Oof. He's way hotter than me. At least you have standards, Zoe. _ "He's an asshole and he's going to come over here as soon as he sees me and start hitting on me, which he's been doing since we broke up two months ago. I need you to hold my hand so he gets jealous and leaves me alone. Okay?"

She says this all like it's the game plan, and Evan is all prepared to agree to it until he thinks about the actual words she's saying to him. "Wait – won't that just make him want to, like, kill me? 'Cause I'm not really – I'm actually having a good day and I would really  _ hate _ for it to be spoiled by, you know, being snapped in half by some Neanderthal who's jealous. Besides he probably won't even  _ be _ jealous, I mean, look at him, he's way better-looking than me, and also he could break me in his palm, so I really don't think –"

"Evan!" Zoe hisses, as if they're best friends and didn't just speak for the first time ever (in recent memory) right now. Evan chokes on whatever other arguments he was going to present – which is probably for the best, because the last thing he needs is to dig himself into some unending hole of chatter and shame. "Come on, man, I need some help here."

"Okay, fine, okay," he concedes. "I – well – okay."

"Awesome." Zoe drags her chair around the circular table until she's right next to Evan and links her fingers with his very casually, like it's something they do every day, and at a very inopportune moment Evan remembers that you can feel someone's pulse in their wrist, and she can probably feel his heart racing a thousand miles per hour. He has the stupidest urge to yank his hand away and also he really needs to wipe his palms on his jeans because they're probably  _ insanely _ sweaty because when he's nervous his palms get sweaty and that's just unpleasant for everyone, plus Zoe wouldn't tell him if his palms were sweaty and gross because who says that? But he knows she'd be thinking it and then never speak to him again so –

Their hands are on the table for anyone to see even though Asshole Ex is the only person here, and Evan hopes he comes and goes too fast to even find out what Evan's name is, because the last thing he wants is to be on someone's hit list that looks like he got a dose of Captain America's super-soldier serum. As if on cue, or maybe because he heard Zoe's chair dragging across the carpet, he turns, spots Zoe, and starts towards the two of them. Evan's heart is definitely considering leaping out of his chest and committing suicide, from the way it's hammering his ribcage.

"He's gonna kill me, you know that, right?" he whispers, and Zoe grins loftily.

"Pft," she says dismissively. And then Asshole Ex is standing – towering,  _ looming _ over them – and Evan can't really say anything else.

"Hey," Asshole Ex says, and boy, Evan wishes he'd just say his name so Evan could stop calling him Asshole Ex, which, okay, it's crude, really, accuracy levels aside. He leans over the table and Evan feels innately like he’s being preyed on by some predator, aside from the fact that he’s being ignored entirely, which is what he’s used to. "What's new, Zoe?"

"What's  _ new _ is my boyfriend Evan," Zoe answers, her tone clipped, very juxtaposed to the relaxed, laid-back tone she'd used with Evan. Evan jumps at the word boyfriend and shrinks under Asshole Ex's analytical once-over.

Evan swallows. "Yeah, boyfriend. I'm her boyfriend, me, Evan,"  _ whose name you now know and can weaponize to bend me to your will, that's great _ . "What – what's your name again, did you say? You didn't – you never said your name."

Asshole Ex raises an eyebrow in the most threatening glare ever. "Ryan," he says, or maybe  _ sneers _ is a better word. "Zoe’s never mentioned me?”

“Why would I? If you don’t recall, I hate your fucking guts,” Zoe comments, the way someone would say  _ we have math homework due tomorrow _ or  _ I really like apple pie. _

Ryan scoffs, but his eyes stay focused on Evan, who’s starting to feel pretty uncomfortable, to be honest. “You're Zoe's new arm candy?"

"Well, I don't know about arm candy," Evan begins.

"You're right. You're way too mousy to be anyone's arm candy. Much less someone like Zoe," Ryan says, every word like venom. Evan really fights the urge to sharply answer with,  _ trust me, buddy, I know it. _

"Watch what you say to my boyfriend, you motherfucker," Zoe snaps, a cutting edge to her voice that Evan would not like to be on the receiving end of, ever. "Leave us alone. We're very busy doing research."

"About trees," Evan puts in. He hears Zoe repress a laugh.

"About trees," she agrees. "Especially –" she grabs his book and flips through it, "maple trees. They're much more interesting than your clingy ass. So if you would be so kind." With her free hand, Zoe gestures to the exit of the library, and Ryan's stare would definitely make maple trees wilt. Evan's surprised he hasn't been literally laser-eyed to death yet. He's also pretty freaking amazed at how Zoe's more or less keeping her cool.

"Maple trees?" Ryan mimics. "Yeah, fascinating. Just like your rabbity new boyfriend. Enjoy your time while you have it," he snarls in Evan's general direction. And then, in a scarily low tone to Zoe, "You'll realize what you're missing soon enough, babe."

He brushes the book about trees off the table and it hits the carpet with a muffled thud. Then, with a final look of distaste, he's gone.

Evan feels his chest unclench. "That was – frightening. Can we report him for, like, sexual harassment? Or general harassment?"

Zoe releases her hand from his, and instantly Evan misses the warmth it sent through his whole body. "Sorry to drag you into that."

"No, it's okay, it's – its okay," Evan says quickly. "I mean it was frightening in like a good way, like  _ oh, so scary _ , but more like a rush, you know? Like kind of a roller coaster? I thought you handled that really well, he was a total – well, a total asshole, like you said."  _ WHAT AM I SAYING. _

Zoe giggles and turns to look at him. "You held your own. Were you actually reading about maple trees?"

Evan blushes and ducks his head. "Um, well, oak trees, actually. They can get really tall. Like forty feet, maybe more. I tried to climb a forty-foot tall oak tree once. Um, it didn't go well. I actually fell from it," he's gesturing with his hands now, painting the oak tree in the air and watching himself let go, "and broke my arm, which really sucked a lot. Actually, why am I telling you this? I'm sorry, you must have a million things to do. I'll stop talking now." He wishes he could get his book and bury his nose in it. Unfortunately, it's on the floor on Zoe's side, and how awkward would it be to reach over her? Or to get up and get it? So he just looks at his hands instead as they fall to the tabletop.

The book slides across the surface like magic, except the magic is actually Zoe's hands. And then, as Evan opens his mouth to say thank you through his scarlet blush, she says, "Hey, this is a little strange, but do you want to go out sometime? For real?"

Evan's vital organs all pretty much cease to function for a couple of seconds.

"Out?" he repeats uncertainly. "Out like how? Like, outside? Or like on a date? That's weird, sorry, why would you go on a date with me," he laughs a hollow kind of laugh, "but if you – I mean, I can go out with you like a friend --"

"On a date," Zoe clarifies. "With me. Tomorrow night."

Evan blinks, gapes, and then realizes he's imitating a fish out of water and stops. "Oh," he says. He pauses, just to make sure he didn't invent that whole interaction, and then says, "Oh," again. And then he clears his throat. "Uh, yes, that – I would really like that, yes. That sounds great."

"I'll meet you here," Zoe says, pushing her chair back and standing. "At seven. We can decide where to go from there."

Evan's mouth is dry with anticipation, but he manages, "Perfect."

"Can't wait," Zoe says, smiling at him warmly.

She turns and walks away, vanishing into another section of the library, and Evan's vision swims with the unreality of that whole conversation.

He opens up his book, closes it and shelves it.

At the checkout counter, the lady says, "Taking anything out?"

Evan sighs contentedly, and says, "Just a girl."

 

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! my tumblr is @do-you-ever-really-crash or @vivilevone so feel free to yell at me on there!


End file.
